Written Answers Wednesday 10 October 2007

Scottish Executive

Common Agricultural Policy

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1899 by Richard Lochhead on 16 July 2007, what further consideration it has given to supporting deer farming through Common Agricultural Policy support schemes and when it will make an announcement on any decisions on this matter.

Richard Lochhead: The issue of supporting deer farming through Common Agricultural Policy support schemes was included in the recent consultation: Reform of the EU Fruit and Vegetable Regime and Deer Farming: Proposed Changes to the Single Farm Payment Scheme. Following closure of the consultation (12 October 2007), consideration will be given to the responses received.

Common Agricultural Policy

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1902 by Richard Lochhead on 16 July 2007, whether it has held further discussions with the European Commission about including deer farmers in the Common Agricultural Policy support schemes and, if so, what the results were of those discussions.

Richard Lochhead: Although no further discussions have been held specifically about deer farmers, we did make successful representations at the time of the June Agriculture Council that will allow us flexibility to operate the National Reserve within Scotland. This flexibility is reflected in our recent consultation paper: Reform of the EU Fruit and Vegetable Regime and Deer Farming: Proposed Changes to the Single Farm Payment Scheme .

Deprivation

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what announcements have been made since May 2007 targeted to individuals and communities that experience deprivation.

Stewart Maxwell: Principles and Priorities – The Government’s Programme for Scotland , published in September 2007, highlighted a range of commitments which will produce positive outcomes for deprived individuals and communities across Scotland.

  Examples of specific commitments include: the establishment of a ministerial task force on health inequalities; £9 million of funding for 300 additional teachers, primarily in pre-school and in primary 1-3 in deprived areas; £5 million to pilot free school lunches for some of the country’s most vulnerable children in primary 1-3; and £19.5 million for the new Scottish enhanced services programme to provide accessible community based and integrated health services, and to reduce health inequalities.

Further and Higher Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures whether access to higher and further education is widening.

Ms Fiona Hyslop: The Higher Education Statistics Agency produces annual performance indicators showing proportion of students from low participation groups in each higher education institution. These are used to monitor performance over time. Additionally, for the first time this year, the Scottish Government published data on entrants to higher education by areas of deprivation which, over time, will allow us to measure whether there has been any improvement in the figures.

  Ministers from the previous administration set out areas where it expected to see an increase in participation in higher education in a letter to the Scottish Further and Higher Education Council – progression from schools with a low participation rate, articulation from higher national courses to degree study and mature students from deprived areas. All of these were linked to improved retention. These measures were included in the proposals in the council’s Learning for All report on widening access. The funding council has set up a national action group to advise on taking forward the action plan arising from Learning for All. This group monitors progress and advises the funding council on widening access

Further and Higher Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the initiatives under way to widen participation in higher education, also indicating the Executive funding available to each and the criteria used to evaluate their impact on access.

Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Funding Council is responsible for allocation of Government funding for widening participation initiatives. The council is also responsible for evaluating the impact of programmes it funds.

  The funding council funds the four regional widening access forums which are responsible for the management and delivery of collaborative widening access initiatives within their regions. Details of each forum’s projects can be obtained from their websites.  www.fifeandtaysideforum.org.uk,  www.scotland-northforum.ac.uk,  www.southeastscotlandforum.ac.uk,  www.westforum.org.uk.  In addition to the forums’ programmes the council also allocates funding to higher education institutions for widening access work and funds the following initiatives which are separately managed:GOALS (Greater Opportunity of Access and Learning with Schools) which is jointly funded by the Funding Council and the education authorities in the west of ScotlandWorking in Health Access NetworkCommunity Learning and Development initiative at University of DundeeThe Funding Council also funds the national widening access co-ordinator, The Scottish Widening Access Regional Forum and Equalities Forward which advise and develop policies on widening access.

Housing

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it believes that the private rented sector can play in the provision of affordable housing in rural areas and how it supports such involvement.

Stewart Maxwell: The private rented sector plays a vital role in the provision of housing in rural areas, accounting for about 11% of all rural households.

  The Scottish Government provides support for the private rented sector in rural areas through rural empty properties grants to help increase the supply of affordable housing by making grants to landlords for improvements to empty properties, which are then rented to local tenants at affordable rents. We have also provided funding to the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) to help the SRPBA provide support to private landlords.More generally, the Housing Supply Task Force has been charged with tackling the obstacles, such as land supply and planning issues, which have been hampering the delivery of more housing of all types. One of its early priorities is to examine the barriers to adequate housing provision in rural areas.

Livestock

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with representatives of the deer farming sector and what was discussed.

Richard Lochhead: There have been no meetings with representatives of the deer farming sector since January 2007, but officials have maintained informal dialogue.

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time was from patients with mental health problems being referred by a GP to receiving treatment from a (i) psychiatrist, (ii) psychologist, (iii) counsellor or (iv) community psychiatric nurse in the last year for which figures are available.

Shona Robison: The information requested is not available centrally.

  To improve the position we are examining a range of options, including through HEAT targets, to provide the benchmark information needed for better performance and better measure of the performance of mental health services. Work on a baseline measure is underway as part of the attention on developing psychological therapies and combined with the soon to be published Integrated Care Pathway Standards for mental health will inform variance in care planned and care delivered. Outcomes from the NHS Scotland National Benchmarking Project which is designed to provide better insights and to inform comparisons between services will be published before the end of the year

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will measure waiting times for mental health patients from GP referral to start of treatment.

Shona Robison: The outcomes from the NHS Scotland National Benchmarking Project will provide us with better insights and inform comparisons between services. The outcomes will be published before the end of the year.

  We are also examining a range of options including through HEAT targets to improve the benchmark information needed for better performance and better measure of performance. Work on a baseline measure is underway as part of the attention on developing psychological therapies and combined with the soon to be published integrated care pathway standards for mental health will inform variance in care planned and care delivered

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how treatment and outcomes for mental health patients are measured.

Shona Robison: There is a range of approaches including through clinical assessment and diagnosis, evaluation of some interventions, service users and carer satisfaction questionnaires, and research through randomised controlled trails.

  Application of recognised assessment tools allows outcomes progress to be reviewed and inform further treatment options.

NHS Expenditure

Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to the NHS of homeopathic services in the most recent year for which figures are available, broken down also by NHS board.

Shona Robison: Information on the costs of in-patient, day case and out-patient activity is not held centrally. However the following table shows the gross ingredient cost for homeopathic medicines prescribed in the community in Scotland, broken down by NHS board, for the financial year ending 31 March 2007. Data in the table refer to prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital based clinics.

  Gross Ingredient Cost for Homeopathic Medicines as at 31 March 2007

  

NHS Board
Year ending 31 March 2007


NHS Ayrshire and Arran
£13,040.36


NHS Borders
£1,796.73


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
£3,667.96


NHS Fife
£8,787.46


NHS Forth Valley
£4,967.99


NHS Grampian
£95,454.50


NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
£52,385.85


NHS Highland
£8,759.08


NHS Lanarkshire
£13,677.78


NHS Lothian
£31,058.14


NHS Orkney
£260.00


NHS Shetland
£546.39


NHS Tayside
£21,115.66


NHS Western Isles
£86.83

National Health Service

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being put in place to reduce delayed discharges.

Shona Robison: All NHS/local authority partnerships have submitted joint action plans detailing initiatives to eliminate delayed discharges over the agreed six week discharge planning period and all delays in short-stay specialties by April 2008. £30 million is being allocated to partnerships this year to achieve this.

  Great progress has been made in reducing the number of people inappropriately delayed in hospital. The latest census, taken in July shows a reduction of 80% in the number of delays over six weeks, since these figures peaked in October 2001

National Health Service

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many delayed discharges there have been in each year since 2004, broken down by NHS board and also expressed as a percentage of total beds in each board.

Shona Robison: The following table shows the numbers of patients ready for discharge at April of each year and the total shown as a percentage of the total number of average available staffed beds.

  NHS - Patients Ready For Discharge - Numbers by NHS Board Area of Treatment at each April Census (2004 to 2007)

  

NHS Board Area of Treatment
April 2004
April 2005
April 2006
April 2007


Total1
Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds2
Total
Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds
Total
Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds
Total
Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds


Scotland
1,747
5.8
1,332
4.6
1,046
3.7
755
2.8


Ayrshire and Arran
139
6.7
108
5.3
94
4.9
66
3.5


Borders
36
5.5
26
4.2
18
2.8
25
4.0


Dumfries and Galloway
8
1.0
6
0.7
4
0.5
1
0.1


Fife
121
6.8
92
5.4
74
4.4
61
3.7


Forth Valley
98
7.1
78
5.9
68
5.4
47
3.6


Grampian
214
7.1
194
6.6
156
5.5
102
3.6


Greater Glasgow
458
5.5
326
4.1
252
3.2
219
2.9


Highland
101
5.8
82
4.8
73
4.3
44
2.7


Lanarkshire
121
4.0
81
2.8
65
2.5
41
1.8


Lothian
304
7.1
225
5.5
142
3.4
89
2.2


Orkney
3
3.2
3
3.2
8
11.7
3
3.9


Shetland
-
-
-
-
5
5.0
6
6.3


Tayside
133
5.4
99
4.3
77
3.4
48
2.2


Western Isles
11
4.8
12
5.2
10
5.0
3
1.9



  Notes:1. Number of patients ready for discharge, in all specialties, reported at each April census (2004 - 2007).2. Source: ISD (S1) average available staffed beds as at each quarter ending 31 March in each year

National Health Service

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many delayed discharges there have been in NHS Tayside in each year since 2004, broken down by local authority area.

Shona Robison: The following table shows the numbers of patients ready for discharge in NHS Tayside at April of each year.

  NHS - Patients Ready for Discharge - Number Reported by NHS Tayside at each April Census (April 2004 to April 2007) by Local Authority Area1

  

Local Authority
April 2004
April 2005
April 2006
April 2007


Total2
Over 6 weeks3
Total
Over 6 weeks
Total
Over 6 weeks
Total
Over 6 weeks


Total
133
72
99
37
77
25
48
9


Angus
19
5
17
4
13
2
7
1


Dundee City
67
38
46
22
46
20
20
6


Fife
-
-
8
1
1
-
-
-


Perth and Kinross
46
28
28
10
17
3
21
2


Local Authority not identified
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-



  Notes:1. Local authority is based on those patients resident in each local authority area. This will include patients who were not considered to have social work involvement in their discharge planning process or in their post-hospital care arrangements. A patient ready for discharge is not considered to have social work involvement in their discharge planning process if the principal reason for delay is in the Healthcare groups; or principal reason for delay is in the Patient/Carer/Family - related categories and a date of referral for social care assessment has not been recorded.2. Number of patients ready for discharge in all specialties.3. Number of patients ready for discharge with a duration of over six weeks (43 days or more), i.e. the common period for local discharge planning agreement timescale across Scotland.

People with Dementia

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how people with dementia are assessed on a regular basis in order to ensure that their care and support is adjusted to meet their needs.

Shona Robison: Under the GMS contract GPs are paid for maintaining a register of those with dementia and for undertaking an assessment of their medical and care needs every 15 months. This ongoing assessment of needs and response will be further enhanced and informed through application of the integrated care pathway for people with dementia to be published later this year.

People with Dementia

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce people’s risk of developing dementia later in life.

Shona Robison: I have established a Dementia Forum to provide input and advice on all aspects of the dementia agenda including approaches to further raising awareness of the benefits of healthy lifestyles for all aspects of physical and mental health.

  Funding support is also given to Dementia Services Development Centre and to Alzheimer Scotland for their general functions including the production of educational materials and planning of events for both healthcare workers and the wider public on lifestyle approaches that may help reduce the incidence of dementia. There are also common messages in other published health campaigns including smoking cessation, reduced alcohol consumption and the links between physical exercise and health

People with Dementia

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all people with dementia are given an accurate diagnosis followed by the appropriate care and treatment package.

Shona Robison: Under the GMS contract GPs are paid for maintaining a register of those with dementia and for undertaking an assessment of their medical and care needs every 15 months. The development of an integrated care pathway for people with dementia which will be published this year will provide the supportive framework for better planning and delivery of care in all cases.

Poverty

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to alter financial distribution within local authorities and NHS boards in order to address deprivation.

Stewart Maxwell: Deprivation factors are among those contained within the local government finance distribution methodology which is kept under constant review jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA. That review process will continue to take account of proposals to make the methodology fairer and more accurate.

  The NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) was established in 2005 to improve the method currently used (the Arbuthnott Formula) to divide the NHS budget among the territorial NHS boards. The NRAC report was submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on the 4 September 2007. The Cabinet Secretary is seeking the views of the Health and Sport Committee on the recommendations contained within the report. In both the Arbuthnott Formula and the proposed NRAC Formula, the aim is not to adjust for deprivation per se, but instead to take account of how the morbidity and life circumstances of the population affects their needs for healthcare

Poverty

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to (a) alter the use of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation as a mechanism for resource allocation to areas of deprivation and (b) increase funding to these areas to tackle deprivation.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government will use the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to inform the allocation of resources which aim to tackle or take account of area-based concentrations of multiple deprivation. All detailed decisions on funding will be made as part of the spending review process.